Laudator Temporis Acti

Matthew 6:27 (NIV):

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν μεριμνῶν δύναται προσθεῖναι ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτοῦ πῆχυν ἕνα;

Craig Keener ad loc.:

Anxiety will not add even the smallest unit of time to one's life. Some translations read as if one added a cubit to one's height (Schwarz 1980, speculatively retroverting into Aramaic; cf. Tert. Spec. 23), but the adjective "single" in the phrase "a single cubit" militates against this interpretation. Jesus in 6:27 refers not to adding a "mere" cubit to one’s height — which would be a considerable addition! — but to adding a "mere" cubit to one’s longevity (see Schweizer 1975: 165; Filson 1960: 101; France 1985: 140; cf. Ps 39:5), thus the NRSV translation, "a single hour." (Though a graphic image, a cubit as a metaphorical time unit was intelligible; cf., e.g., Ap. Rhod. 4.1510.) Jesus may employ intentional understatement here (rhetoricians would have called his figure "catachresis," whereby a related term substitutes for a more precise one, such as "short power" or "small height" — Rhet. ad Herenn. 4.33.45). Not only is it true that one cannot extend one's life by worrying; daily experience in our comparatively fast-paced culture confirms the wisdom of an earlier Jewish sage who observed that worry and a troubled heart actually shorten life (Sir 30:19-24; cf. Pub. Syr. 187). If much study is wearying to the flesh (Eccl 12:12), "worry" about wealth also banishes sleep and destroys the flesh (Sir 34:1).